Jackson Jambalaya

Ben Allen wrote on his blog Jackson Now! (which yours truly created) a column opposing the proposed construction of a $72 million building for the Department of Revenue on Lakeland Drive near Ridgewood Road:

"Unbelievably, on Friday, week before last, at 3:37 P.M., our development community was made aware that by noon of the next day, March 26th, a $50,000,000, $250/construction foot, 190,000 (almost FIVE football fields under roof) square foot brand new building, along with a parking and footprint of 9 football fields, was headed for approval by the state legislature, and planned for location in the pristine wooded area on Lakeland Drive and Ridgewood Road, by the R and D Center.

What was unbelievable about this, was during that same week, intense negotiations were transpiring with local private property owners and the state (and its appropriate departments), with the hope of saving the state millions of dollars, and using private tax paying property for the purpose of relocating the Department of Revenue's offices. Several locations in the city, county and downtown were being considered.

Furthermore, not a single property owner in the area, other than the developers themselves, were aware of this sweeping, sudden, non-transparent, proposed action. A group of us went to work immediately to investigate, and among many things, discovered the following:" Rest of the column

While we are discussing DFA's construction of state office buildings, here is somsething for you to read if you are really, really, really bored or have a severe case of insomnia: an old PEER report on the DFA and construction. A few choice excerpts:

"The bureau has not consistently controlled projects to ensure that they are delivered on time at the lowest possible cost. The Project Accounting and Tracking System cannot be used to measure planned versus actual construction performance due to system design deficiencies for financial and time information associated with individual construction projects. Also, the bureau compensates contractors for change orders in a manner that violates its own standard construction contract and rewards professionals for performance that unnecessarily increases project costs."

and this one:

"The Department of Finance and Administration’s Bureau of Building has not
managed the construction projects at the Underwood Complex and the Archives
and History, Sillers, and Woolfolk buildings in a manner that best protects the state’s interest. The bureau’s actions have contributed to additional costs of approximately $10.8 million for change orders (an amount that could have been reduced with improved oversight), including $192,690 for contracts for personal services (i.e., janitorial and groundskeeping) that should have been provided through DFA’s operations budget. These costs added approximately $6 million in debt service for the state. Also, the bureau has not consistently controlled projects to ensure that they are delivered on time at the lowest possible cost."

Click here for report